“To jazz is to live and to jazz is to give all your bebop from inside out. ” - This quote from Cornelia Moore’s lyrics set to Dizzy Gillespie’s tune “Bebop” says it all: a jazz artist with every fiber of her being, Cornelia creates sensuous sound paintings that transfer her listeners to a vulnerable, sensitive world where naked emotions and personal images awaken.

 

     Born and raised in Hannover, Germany, Cornelia first discovered her calling when mesmerized by the lush sounds of her grandmother’s old, abandoned piano. What started as an escape from boredom quickly evolved into a deep, passionate love. It was indeed music that unfolded and revealed to Cornelia a realm of beauty, spirit, and a sense of truth and reality.

 

     Her first introduction to jazz occurred when her father took the family to the local annual jazz festival. The young girl immediately connected with the concepts of swing and improvisation, and soon, composing little pieces on the piano took the place of practicing her Burgmueller etudes. “German society in the ’60s and ’70s seemed strangely unreal to me; there was always this oppressive shadow of doubt, disbelief, and emotional indirectness. I remember feeling unutterably sad as a kid, when observing that most people I knew, myself included, were not being raised to believe in themselves and pursue their unique talents. However, when immersed in music, I experienced the opposite of “verboten”: the complete freedom to express emotions; and I knew at the age of six that I truly wanted to be a singer.”

 

     For many years, Cornelia concentrated on honing her skills. She was blessed to be able to work with such inspirational and empowering teachers as Sheila Jordan, Rudy Stevenson, Anita Moore, Margarete Seyd, Indian Carnatic musicians Kamalesh Maitra and Prof. TV Gopalakrishnan, and guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly. Infused with dedicated, visionary passion, Cornelia furthered, molded, and redefined their concepts into her continuum of self-expression.

 

     Her four-octave range of sound can go from warmth, tenderness, velvet cushion, and angelic lightness all the way to the uninhibited, painful cry: pure, raucous, and brassy; she possesses a genuine gift that instinctively chooses the sound that will reverberate the truth of the moment. And in addition to that, Cornelia is not afraid to be vulnerable and share her innermost feelings with the rest of us. Fellow musicians and composers appreciate her lyrics because they capture the essence of the melody nuances that are so important to music. Her original compositions show a deep understanding of harmonic and rhythmic development and entice the listener to want to experience them again and again.

 

   Curious, relentless introspection has blossomed Cornelia into a mature, truly inventive artist. She has shared the stage with Walter Norris, Benny Bailey, Hal Singer, Jimmy Woode, Rudy Stevenson, Calvin Hill, Earl Bostic, Ed Schuller, Kevin Burrell, Mack Goldsbury, Regis Molina, Piotr Wojtasik, Felix Lehrmann, and Reggie Moore, to name a few, and has been leading her own group since 1999.

 

   Throughout the years, pianist-composer-arranger Reggie Moore, her soul mate in life and music, has remained Cornelia’s most important "partner in crime". “Whenever we rehearse or perform, Reggie miraculously anticipates my every notion, my every sentiment. I know I can do anything - take any chance - and he will be right there, throwing it back at me, challenging me always. He has a great sense of humor! I feel that our joint project Moore & Mo(o)re is really a continuous inner workshop situation, where every musician involved is invited to contribute original ideas and compositions. It is a space where we freely and creatively share and develop our concepts.“

​

   When, in 2010, life-threatening illness and spinal injury disrupted both, Cornelia's voice and her performance career, she continued her creative work "on the inside". Literally. Guided by her innate instrument - her voice - she began exploring the relationship between music and (human) nature - more specifically, the relationship between the human spine and skeletal structure, the meridian and nervous system, and music. From Cornelia's creative process, an effective method of sound healing has unfolded.

​

    Cornelia's future plans include pursuing her compositional visions and sharing her genuine continuum of sound healing. Her experiential book THE SONG WITHIN - a well-researched, insightful, and deeply personal work about the nature of sound and the transformational power of music - was published in September 2023.